A bishop poet, who writes lyrics for musical oratorios: that’s a label that fits a Portuguese prelate, Joaquim Gonçalves, bishop of Vila Real. He has always cultivated his passion for poetry and, on the recent 25th anniversary of his ordination as priest, even had his work staged in the theatre of his diocese. The title of the oratorio, “Travessia” in Portuguese, alludes to the biblical journey of the Jews into the desert, which is also a kind of metaphor of the predicament of contemporary society, as explained by Monsignor Gonçalves in an interview with the local paper “Jornal de Notìcias”. The bishop especially writes poetry in his little spare time and on his holidays. Apart from the musical oratorio (with two soloists, choir and orchestra), he has also written the texts of hymns for his diocese and for the local seminary and lyrics to company the beatification of Bartolomeu dos Mártires.
